Add Alt Text to Images

We know the design of your campaigns is important, and images are a big part of what makes that design work. But in some cases, a subscriber may not be able to see the images in your campaigns. That's where alt text comes in.

In this article, you'll learn about alternative text for images, and how to add alt text to your email campaigns so every subscriber has a great experience.

About Alt Text

Alt text, or alternative text, is a short description of an image in your campaign that displays when subscribers are unable to access your images. This can happen if they have images turned off in their email client, or are reading your campaign with a screen reader.

Alt text helps your subscribers understand what value an image adds to your overall message, or lets them know that an image is decorative and can be ignored. It may seem like a small thing, but alt text can be very important if subscribers can't see your images, so include it for every image in your campaign.

Alt Text and Accessibility

Alt text is especially important for people who use screen readers, so it's considered a basic best practice for email accessibility.

Without alt text, a screen reader will tell your subscriber there's an image there, but the subscriber has no way to determine what information the image provides. To learn more about accessibility best practices, check out Accessibility in Email Marketing.

Alt Text and Image Display

If your images aren't showing up in your subscribers' inboxes, their email client may be blocking them. For security reasons, many email clients turn off images by default, so subscribers have to manually turn on image display. If your subscribers have images blocked, they'll see your alt text in place of your image.

Here's how alt text looks when images are blocked. The image on the left doesn't have alt text, and the image on the right does.

Tips for Effective Alt Text

Here are a few tips to keep in mind to help you write appropriate, effective alt text.

Keep it Short
Alt text should be easy to read and digest, so your subscribers can move on to the rest of your message. Aim for one or two sentences.

Use Proper Punctuation
Screen readers use punctuation to know where to pause when reading content, so it's important to use proper punctuation in your alt text.

Repeat Text That Appears in Images
It's always best to keep important information in the main text of your message, and not contained in an image. But, if an image does include text, repeat that information in the alt text so your subscribers don't miss it.

Don't Repeat Image Captions
Image captions are read by screen readers and display even when images are blocked, so don't repeat image captions in your alt text. Alt text should provide information about your image that your subscriber can't get from the caption alone.

Consider Context
Context is the most important thing to consider when you write alt text for an image. How does the image relate to the content around it? Ask yourself what information your subscribers might already have about the image based on surrounding content.

Identify Decorative Images
If your image is purely decorative, briefly state that in your alt text so your subscribers can move past the image to the rest of your message. For example, just writing "Decorative image" would work.